Hammer Driving a Nail into a Wooden Frame
Why striking the nail draws board a b closer to board c d
A small pen sketch in the upper right shows a wooden frame with a nail and hammer. Beside it Leonardo poses a question of mechanics, labelling the members a c, b d, and asks why hammering the nail causes the board a b to draw closer to the board c d. The rest of the leaf is left blank.
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Question on a nail drawing two boards together
With the members lettered a c and b d, Leonardo asks why the hammer, in striking the nail, makes the board a b move closer to the board c d. The note frames the clamping action of a driven nail as a problem of force and mechanical motion.
Frame, nail and hammer apparatus
The upper-right drawing shows a wooden frame or fixture into which a nail is being driven by a hammer, with a peg or roller at its base. It illustrates the simple mechanical setup underlying the accompanying question.